More on Education: The Freedom to Fail

In schools today we place an incredible emphasis on success, perhaps to a fault. I will be the first to argue that every student and every teacher should experience genuine success on a regular basis. I will also be the first to argue that we as educational leaders must do everything possible to put our students and teachers in a position to be successful. However, in our efforts to make our students and teachers successful, I fear we have lost the value of failure. Great coaches often remark that they and their teams learn more from losses (failures) than they do from wins (successes). Educational leaders must take this to heart and grant our teachers and students the freedom to fail.

I’m a coach, and I tell my athletes all the time that Olympic Weightlifting means constantly falling on your ass.